


On Every Date

by bearbaitbrook



Series: On Every Page [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Editor Betty Cooper, Editor Jughead Jones, F/M, First Dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27297448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearbaitbrook/pseuds/bearbaitbrook
Summary: A Prequel to One Every Page. The story of how Jughead and Betty met.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: On Every Page [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993057
Comments: 6
Kudos: 64
Collections: 8th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	On Every Date

**Author's Note:**

> I am overwhelmed with how much positive support One Every Page got! I literally could not stop thinking about this universe, and I sat down and wrote almost all of part 2 today. Enjoy! There are more works in this universe planned and hopefully coming your way soon.

Betty Cooper had lived in New York for all of two days before her best friend and college roommate, Veronica Lodge, was attempting to set her up on blind dates. 

"Come on, B, please? I have so many people that would be just perfect for you that I'm dying to set you up with!" 

"I don't know, Veronica," Betty answered. "It's only been a few months since Adam and I broke up, and besides, I want to get my bearings here in New York before I add a man to the mix. And I still haven't found a job - that needs to be priority number one."

After graduating top of her class from Yale University as an English major, Betty had gone back to her small New York hometown of Riverdale to work for her mother at the local newspaper, The Riverdale Register. That had blown up spectacularly with Betty tiring of the heavy weight of her mother's thumb on her journalistic dreams, resulting in a hasty move to New York City after a particularly dynamic explosion between the two of them.

"But I'm your roommate!" Veronica moaned. "Isn't it my job to try to set you up with my single friends?"

"V, I promise that you can set me up with whoever you want.  _ After  _ I find a job. Ok? Besides… I'm only your temporary roommate. This is just until I can find an apartment."

Betty managed to hold Veronica off until she had secured a job - a position as a low level editor at a publishing firm called On Every Page. While she was a little bit disappointed that she wasn't working in a journalism field, Betty was grateful that she had managed to secure a position that actually allowed her to use her degree instead of spending her days filling coffee orders in the shop down the street. 

"Tell me all about it," Veronica insisted when Betty called to tell her the good news, having since moved into her own apartment - staying in Veronica's spare room was nice, but hearing every loud detail of Veronica's relationship with her boyfriend, Archie Andrews, had gotten on Betty's last nerve.

"Well, I really don't have much to tell - at least not yet. I start next week and I'll be working under someone named… um…" Betty fumbled through her email, "...someone named Forsythe Jones III. And I'm editing books. That's literally all I know."

"Well, I'm happy for you Betty. Really. And now…" Veronica's tone shifted from congratulatory to mischievous. "...I get to set you up on a date. I've been dying to call up one of Archie's friends for you. Based on what Archikins has said, you two are perfect for each other. He's a senior editor at a publishing firm, he's writing his own book, and you're the first girl that he's ever shown interest in meeting when I've mentioned setting him up before. Are you free on Saturday?"

"What's his name?" Betty asked warily, knowing from experience how many dude-bros there were in Archie's wide circle of friends.

"Jughead Jones."

"Jughead?"

"Yeah - it's like a family nickname from when he was a kid or something. Apparently the real thing is much worse. So are you free Saturday?"

"Um, yeah, I guess?"

"Awesome. I will tell him to meet you at 7PM at Taste of Rome - that's the name of the Italian place you like in Brooklyn, right?"

"Yep, that's the one. What's this guy look like?"

"I've only met Jughead a few times, but I've never seen him without this charcoal gray beanie on his head. You'll know it when you see it. I'm coming over at four to help you get ready."

"Why haven't I met Jughead yet?" Archie and Veronica had gotten together their sophomore year after meeting in a club near New Haven, where Archie was attending a state school with a good football program. In the five years that Veronica and Archie had been together, Betty had met a number of Archie's friends. While she couldn't remember a number of their names - the frat boys that Archie tended to befriend tending to blend together after a while - she knew that she would have remembered someone named Jughead.

"He's Archie's closest friend from childhood - he's really not into the party scene like Archie's other friends are. He was actually helping raise his younger sister while he was finishing college, so he was really busy, between taking care of her and working and going to class. She just went off to college though, and Jughead is out of excuses to be anti-social. Now I have to go - Archie doesn't know it yet, but he's taking me to that new sushi place we were talking about it earlier. Love you!"

Betty groaned. She was due to start her new job on Monday and she had envisioned a Saturday evening complete with a glass of wine, a warm bubble bath and a good book, not playing dress up trying to impress a stranger who would most likely never call her again. But Veronica had allowed Betty to live rent-free in her spare bedroom for almost two months and had never asked anything in return. 

***

So on Saturday, promptly at four, Betty opened her door and ushered Veronica, who was laden with arms full of clothing and beauty products, inside. 

"I brought a couple of outfit options," she said as she stepped inside and surveyed Betty, who was standing in front of her in her bathrobe. "I wasn't sure what vibe we would be feeling. I'm thinking lose, flowy curls though - give you a romantic look. A few of the dresses I brought will fit with that, I think."

"You know, V, I do have my own closet," Betty laughed as she took the garment bag Veronica passed her.

"Oh, hush. Let me have my fun. Getting dressed up for dates isn't as fun when you've been with the same person for five years and you can't convince your best friend to let you set her up with anyone. Besides, I've seen what's in your closet. The Betty Cooper aesthetic may be timeless, but it definitely doesn't scream first date."

"I refuse to feel guilty about this," Betty deadpanned. "But come on. Let's get this over with."

By six-thirty, Betty's hair had been loosely curled, and Veronica had worked her makeup magic so that Betty was glowing. Veronica decided that the romantic look was, indeed, the way to go, and passed Betty a white dress sprinkled with large red roses with a deep V-neckline. It was tight to her waist and then flowed loosely to her knees. Betty was in love with everything except the thin straps that held the entire thing up.

"I know what you're going to say," Veronica said as Betty turned toward her with a concerned face. "Here." She passed Betty a scarlet cardigan and Betty gratefully pulled it over the dress.

"And, shoes." Veronica surveyed Betty's closet for a moment before pulling out a pair of white wedges. Then she gave Betty a once over. "Perfect. I'm a genius! He isn't going to know what hit him!"

"Well see, Veronica. But I do look pretty good," Betty admitted as she gazed into her full length mirror. "Now I need to get going if I'm going to make it on time."

"Call me tonight and tell me everything!"

"Promise, V. Lock up when you leave?"

"Have fun!"

***

'What was Veronica thinking?' Betty wondered not long later as she stared awkwardly across the table at her date. 'This is an absolute disaster!' Jughead Jones was attractive - there was no denying that - with his jet-black curls that looked silky soft, his sapphire blue eyes, and his lean physique that left her just the slightest bit curious to see what was beneath the material of his dusky blue dress shirt - but his personality left something to be desired. 

Betty had arrived at the restaurant promptly at seven like promised. She secured them a table and sat at their table sipping a drink while she waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at seven-thirty, just as she was about to call it a night and head home to tend to her bruised ego, he had come strolling into the restaurant and introduced himself sullenly without even a hint of an apology. They had ordered their food and Betty had attempted to make small talk, but every question she asked - about what he did for a living, about the book he was working on, about what he liked to do in his spare time - were all met with one word answers. He made no attempt at questions of his own, just sat there silently wringing his napkin in his hands.

By the end of the date, Betty had come to the conclusion that Jughead Jones was either incredibly boring or incredibly stuck up and thought he was too good to go out on a date with her. The only thing he had in his corner was the fact that he insisted that he pay the bill, waving off all of her attempts to offer to buy their dinner, saying that "you let Veronica talk you into going on a date with a complete stranger. Trust me, I've got this one."

'This one,' Betty thought curiously. 'Does he think that there's going to be another date? That's certainly not going to happen.' After the night she had just had, she was perfectly prepared to tell Veronica to tell him to lose her number. Not that he had used it in the first place.

"Well Jughead," she said as they exited the restaurant, "thank you for tonight, and good luck with your book."

"Good luck with your job," he replied, and then they parted ways - her into a waiting cab, and him towards the nearest subway station. 

***

"That was a complete waste of time, V!" Betty complained into the phone a half an hour later, after she had changed into a warm pair of flannel pajamas and scrubbed the makeup off of her face. "It was like talking to a wall! What did you think I would see in that guy?"

"I will admit that Jughead can be a bit… anti-social… at times, but normally that's when he's around large groups of people that he doesn't know well. I thought that he would be fine with you, especially with how much you two have in common!"

"Well, it's not like he would know we had anything in common - I could barely get him to string two words together all night! I think I knew more about our waiter by the end of the night than I do about him!"

"Jughead Jones doesn't know what he's missing," Veronica declared, "and I will be calling him tomorrow to give him a piece of my mind for how tonight went! Unless, you don't want me to?"

"It's not like I'll ever see him again," Betty said with a shrug. "Maybe he'll learn a lesson for the next girl you try to set him up with."

"Back to the drawing board, I guess. Ooh, I know - Archie's friend Reggie, I haven't set you up with him yet!"

Betty winced, thinking about the stories she'd heard about Reggie from Josie, another of her and Veronica's college friends. Misogynistic dude-bro was decidedly not her type. "Actually, Veronica, I think I'm going to put a pause on the dating thing for a while."

"Because of one bad date? Bettykins, you know what my Abuelita used to say about dating. 'The only way to move on from a bad date is to get back in the saddle. Or on.'" Betty could hear Veronica's eyebrow wiggle through the line.

"No, V, it's not just because of tonight. I'm just starting this new job, and I'd really like to focus on work for a few weeks - find my footing before I try to fit dating into there too. Although, once I am ready to date, maybe find someone a little bit better than Reggie? I've heard horror stories from multiple people."

"Fair point. I'll put my thinking cap on. And in the meantime, you, Betty Cooper, are going to kick ass at your new job!"

***

That was the mantra Betty repeated to herself as she approached the front doors of On Every Page Publishing Co. She eyed the building, several stories tall with floor to ceiling windows with apprehension, before pulling her shoulders back in a way that would make Alice Cooper proud.

She stepped into the elevator and emerged on the third floor, immediately approaching a cold looking red-head sitting at the front desk whose name tag read 'Cheryl.' "Hi, I'm Betty. Betty Cooper? Or maybe you have me as Elizabeth Cooper? I'm the new editor?" 

"And?" Cheryl asked, evidently bored, even at nine in the morning.

"I was told that you would tell me where to go?"

"Ethel?" Cheryl yelled without turning away from her computer screen. "Elizabeth is here!"

Another red head, this time a short, heavier set girl with curls chopped close to her head, popped her head around the corner. "You're Elizabeth Cooper?"

Betty nodded.

"I'm Ethel Muggs. Nice to meet you. Come with me and we'll get you set up."

On Every Page was an open concept office space. Ethel led her through mazes of desks that scattered the large floor space, until she arrived at one near a window. 

"This one is yours," Ethel said, nodding at the desk. "Set your stuff down and then I'll introduce you to Jughead - he'll be the head editor in charge of overseeing your work."

"Wait - Jughead?" Betty asked, panicking. She knew that name, and she knew that there couldn't be another Jughead in the New York area. "I thought I was working under a Forsythe Jones?"

"Well, you are. That's his real name. But he goes by Jughead. Come on - he's waiting for us."

Betty immediately felt her palms begin to sweat. 'If I walked out right now, how long would it take me to find a new job?' she pondered, before scolding herself. 'No - you earned this position. You aren't letting some socially inept, stuck-up man scare you away from that.'

Ethel led her to one of the few office rooms that littered the walls of the building. The door to the office was closed, but the blinds were wide open, and Betty could see that Jughead had his back to the door as he flipped through a document, most likely a manuscript. Ethel tapped smartly on the door and then opened it without waiting for a reply.

"Hi Jughead," she said. Betty couldn't help but notice that her voice sounded several octaves higher than it had a few minutes earlier. "Elizabeth Cooper is here."

"Who?" Jughead asked, sounding confused.

"Elizabeth Cooper. The newest editor."

"Actually, I go by Betty," Betty corrected. Jughead turned around as he heard her voice, and his eyes widened in recognition. 

"Betty Cooper. Nice to meet you," she said, sticking out her hand. He took it and shook awkwardly, refusing to look her in the eyes. Veronica had called Betty the day after the date and told her that Jughead had received a tongue-lashing like none other from her - Betty had been on the receiving end of a pissed off Veronica, and it wasn't pretty. 

"Um, yeah, Jughead Jones. You too. And um, welcome to On Every Page. Ethel, go ahead and get back to work - I want to run Betty through some new hire paperwork."

"Jughead, I can totally handle that," Ethel said, looking between Jughead and Betty.

"No, I've got it. Thank you." Sighing, Ethel backed out of the room and shut the door.

"Well… this is… unexpected," Jughead said after a minute of silently staring at each other.

"Yes, it is," Betty agreed. She honestly couldn't remember ever feeling this uncomfortable before.

"Look, I think I owe you an explanation. And maybe an apology?" 

"Ok?"

"I don't know how much Veronica has told you about me…"

"Just that you write books and work for a publishing firm. And that apparently we had a lot in common. Not that I could see that from our conversation the other night," she couldn't help but add.

Jughead winced. "I guess I deserved that. Look, I've never really dated a lot. And Veronica has been bugging me to go out with you since I first met her when she got together with Archie. You know Veronica - she's persistent, to say the least. I was skeptical, to say the least. I've met a few of Veronica's other friends, and they've been the complete opposite of my type. But you seemed perfect on paper, so when she said that you had agreed to her setting us up, I decided to go for it."

He looked at her for a moment and gave her a small smile, but then looked nervous again. "I guess I should probably tell you that I didn't have the best home life growing up - my dad has issues with alcohol, my mom left with my sister when I was a kid, and I lived with Archie off and on all of high school because my dad kept running into trouble with the law. Right as I got off the subway, I got a call from my dad, admitting that he had fallen off the wagon again and was going to prison with a DUI. That's why I was late. And then I got into the restaurant, and I saw you, and you were gorgeous, and you seemed so driven and ambitious, and just… perfect, and I didn't want to let me and my fucked up family life anywhere near that. My family ruins everything that comes near them, there was no way I was going to subject you to that. And I didn't think that there was anyway that you would want anything to do with me once you found out.

"But then Veronica called me Sunday morning and yelled at me like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh, trust me, I would," Betty said with a small smile. The icy indifference she had felt towards Jughead was slowly slipping away as he explained himself, and she couldn't help but feel for the vulnerable man sitting in front of her.

"Veronica didn't go into the details, but she said that your life was far from perfect."

"She's right."

"Look, I know that I messed up on Saturday. And if you never want me to mention it again, I won't. I know that this is probably inappropriate, considering that I'm your boss, and you are completely free to say no and we'll forget that this whole thing ever happened. Company policy totally isn't against it, though, in case you're wondering."

"Ok…"

"Can we try Saturday night over again? I really would like to get to know you. I promise that I won't be such an asshole this time."

"Why not?" Betty said after weighing her options for a minute. 'Things can't possibly get any more awkward between the two of us,' she thought. 

Jughead smiled, his bright blue eyes lighting up. "Seven o'clock? Same place?"

"It's a date," Betty said with a smile. 

***

The rest of the week passed in a blur as Betty acclimated to her new role. Jughead was out of the office all week, busy in meetings at another branch of the publishing firm, but it seemed like he was a well-liked boss all around. Kind and fair, but with extremely high expectations from all of his employees. 

The next thing Betty knew, it was Saturday night, and she was once again preparing to head to her favorite Italian restaurant, her hair swept back in soft, romantic curls, wearing the same red and white dress that had been gifted to her by Veronica.

This time, as she walked into the restaurant, she was led to a secluded table in the back where Jughead was waiting.

"Hi," he said, looking at her shyly. "You look really nice."

"You look pretty handsome yourself," she replied. He helped her shrug out of her coat, blushing as his fingers brushed gently along her shoulders.

"So, tell me, Betty Cooper," he said as they sat. "What brought you to New York?"

This night could not have been any more different than the previous week. Instead of awkward and sullen silence, there was lively and invigorating conversation. He listened attentively and shared freely, and halfway through, reached across the table to grab her hand to comfort her as she shared a bit about her life growing up in a house that demanded perfection. He didn't let it go the rest of the night, and she found that she didn't want him to as warmth spread from the tips of her fingers and up her arm, simply from his touch.

"Walk me home?" she asked as they exited the restaurant. The night was warm, and she didn't want this night to end. 

"Gladly," he smiled, and he laced his fingers with hers as they traversed the streets of New York, slowly meandering their way back to her apartment.

"Well, Jughead Jones," she said as they neared her front door. "I'd say you redeemed yourself?"

"Did I?"

"You did." She looked at him for a moment, debating. It was their first, well, technically second date, and asking him to come in would be presumptuous, but she didn't want him to leave. She didn't want their easy conversation to end. 

"What?" he asked, able to see the uncertainty in her eyes.

"I just… I don't want tonight to end."

"We don't have to," he laughed. "Let's go watch a movie inside or something. We don't have to do anything besides sit and talk but I'd really like to spend more time with you. I don't want tonight to end either. But first…"

"What?" it was her turn to ask. He said nothing, just looked her deeply in the eyes.

"What?" she asked again. And then he leaned forward, his hands gentle on either side of her face, and kissed her. His lips were warm and soft, and God, Betty wanted to melt into him and never let this moment end. 

Too bad her neighbor, Mrs. Hutsky, had other thoughts. A rude "ahem," jolted Betty and Jughead back to reality, and they jumped apart, both of their faces hot and pink.

"So, um… movie?" she asked, a little shell shocked, fumbling with her keys in the lock.

"Movie," he agreed. 

They made it ten minutes into the movie before they were reaching for each other again and had to start it all over again.

"Worth giving me another chance?" Jughead asked as they came up for air close to midnight.

Betty just pulled him back to her lips, and then there was no more talking.


End file.
